


Fig 1.1: A Table of How Makoto and Gou Started Dating

by symphonyine



Category: Free!
Genre: F/M, M/M, Makoto and Gou share a streak of admin freak, Why does grandmama matsuoka have no character tag yet, confession fic, ot5 makes an appearance in omake, rin and haru are already dating, the rinharu is slight tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 12:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2269407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symphonyine/pseuds/symphonyine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things don't go according to Gou's plan, and Makoto likes organizing data in tables.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fig 1.1: A Table of How Makoto and Gou Started Dating

The most fundamental flaw of _plans_ , Gou had found a long time ago, was that they rested crucially on being followed, like some petty demanding child. It didn't matter how detailed and carefully thought out the plan was, even shoddy or rash ones (which this one definitely was) fell prey to the same flaw time and again.

On Tuesday after school, Gou found Makoto in her living room after her shower, and knew this particular plan was busted, and her best hope was to lie and puppy-eye her way to lighter punishment.

“Go-ou!” her grandmother yelled — or what passed for a yell at her age anyway, which was really just a croak — from her seat next to Makoto, whose only sign of being taken aback was a polite squint and a small smile, “this nice young man wanted to see you. Have you been doing anything I shouldn't know about?” she 'whispered' to Gou as Gou sat gingerly next to her and wiped her palms subtly on her shorts (Rin's inability to whisper turned out to be genetic), eyes stern but eyebrows waggling, and Gou couldn't stifle a laugh, until she continued, “I know what _your brother_ gets up to with that Nanahachi boy, and this one's his friend isn't he?” she directed a mock-glare at Makoto, who looked caught between laughter, embarrassment, and fear. Gou felt a little sorry, understanding how he must feel.

“No, no, Grandma, we're purely professional! Purely professional —”

“No! No, wait! It's not — Don't jump to conclusions, obaa-san!”

“Why are you calling _my_ grandma 'obaa-san'?” Gou jerked her head at Makoto, who immediately put his hands up defensively.

“It's only polite!”

“Ooh, fighting already?” her grandmother cackled, ignoring Gou's protests and Makoto's incoherent puppy whines, and stood up with her teacup in her hands. “Well this little old lady is going to make herself more tea in the kitchen, all on her lonesome, while you young people talk about happy mating ducks and butterfly romances and coloured strings, no, no, sit down, young man,” she pushed Makoto back onto the couch with more force than she appeared capable of, and continued staring forlornly into her full steaming cup of tea as she trudged out of the sitting room.

Gou snickered a bit as she left, unable to help herself. “Sorry, grandma's like that a lot,” she said, not very apologetically, as she helped herself to the remaining cup of tea. Makoto smiled back obligingly, a little more at ease now that they were alone, and his eyes crinkled up. Gou curled her fingers around her cup tighter. “Did something new come up regarding the club, Makoto-senpai?” she asked brightly. “You didn't have to come all the way yourself. Unlike Haruka-senpai or my stupid brother, I check my phone regularly _and_ reply promptly, and you know you can trust me to handle club affairs on my own.” She stared back at him with the full force of all her Matsuoka intensity and earnestness, and felt smug satisfaction when he looked away nervously, but also the unique, familiar thrill of feverish fondness.

“Well, Gou, this,” Makoto stuttered, “this, it's not, about club activities.” He was starting to turn red and couldn't seem to decide whether to look at her or if the ceiling was more interesting, and Gou wanted to pat his head, or put him in her pocket, or laugh and — “I made a chart!” he shouted suddenly, and Gou narrowly dodged a flailing arm as he flung his finger in her face. “Uh,” he stared, and then retracted the finger, unthinkingly rubbing where he'd jabbed (her nose, and she hoped he didn't notice the way her breath hitched at the unexpected contact). “I mean — wait.”

He bent over the side of the couch, where he'd dropped his bag in a careless heap, rummaging. Gou used the momentary distraction to cringe as much as befit the situation (a lot, and very unflatteringly) and silently bemoan what she _knew_ to be the impending crash-and-burn of Everything. She'd be lying if she said she weren't nervous: so yes, she was very, very nervous, and feeling extremely foolish and young. She was never going to tease Rin for anything, ever again.

“Here!” Makoto cried triumphantly, retrieving a slightly crumpled piece of paper — coloured? Makoto laid it out on the table, and oh, it was exactly as she had feared. “Let's see, you've been,” Makoto looked meaningfully at her, voice steady now (his confidence seemed to be boosted by the visual cues, something for her to file away), “trying to get me alone a lot, I started noticing this, like, three weeks ago,” it had been going on longer, Gou wanted to correct him, but that would be giving away incriminating evidence, that would be confessing to the crime, “That's um, fifteen tally marks here. That's one for every school day, and we don't even see each other every day, practice is three days a week, and so that's, a lot.” He gestured at the first row on the table he'd drawn out, and Gou wanted to hide in the cupboards. She didn't regret it, exactly, but now that she'd been found out she was starting to feel a little shame.

“Uh —”

“And then,” Makoto continued quickly, unsuccessfully hiding his nervous attempt to finish what he had to say, “I also noticed you were, trying to separate me from two of my female classmates, last week. Gou,” he said seriously, like he would to Haru or Nagisa when they were being silly, “they're my groupmates. For a class project.”

“I know that!” Gou snapped, and then blushed even more furiously. “And that was one time!” _Oh, no._ She slapped her hands over her face. There went _Plan A: Lie my way out of this._ “I didn't even do anything nasty, I just told them you were too busy,” she mumbled petulantly into her palms. “And it was true anyway, there was practice...” _Which is the_ only _time I have a reason to see you in school, so forgive me for... Oh, no. Never mind, let me re-enact high school rom-coms on my own here._ Gou scrubbed her cheeks.

“Oh. Um, okay,” Makoto said easily, and when Gou peeked through her fingers he was staring earnestly at the table he'd made again, betrayed only by the tips of his ears burning. “So, um. I also wrote here that you were defending me in front of people who were making fun of me behind my back? Does that count, or, uh, I mean, it's not like the others here —”

“It was for Haruka-senpai too,” Gou sat up primly, glad for a more legitimate action she could be shamelessly self-righteous about. “And for my brother too, since he's the one Haruka-senpai is really dating, so really it's just because of family duty and not because of you.”

“Huh?” Makoto exclaimed, blinking confusedly. “No, you were just calling out some classmates who said I was whiny or wussy or something? How do Haru or Rin come into this?”

“Oh.” Gou sank back into the cushions. “That incident. Whatever, they're wrong anyway, you're not whiny and you're not a wuss,” Gou said, probably too intensely for high school gossip, jaw set. _And you_ would _make a good boyfriend, boo to them. And I_ would _totally date you too._

Makoto blinked for a moment, distracted from Rin and Haru's unexpected involvement. Then he laughed shyly and the tips of his ears turned even redder, if possible. “Um. Thanks. So, the, chart,” he choked a little, on what may have been intended to be an attempt at flippant laughter, and Gou decided they both had had enough.

“Stop, stop, stop,” she tugged the sleeve of his uniform, bowing her head in apology and embarrassment, “I'm so sorry, really I didn't plan most of this, I just — I thought, since we're in the same club, we should get to know each other, and —” That was a really bad excuse.

There was silence, as they sat frozen. Gou chanced a look up, met Makoto's eyes, and then they both jerked apart.

Makoto spoke first. “So, uh.” Gou looked at Makoto, who was studiously observing tea leaves float. “You like me,” he gestured, or more accurately flailed, at her. “Right?”

Gou glared, barely mollified when he backed away and squeaked. “You made a _table_.” A color-coded table, with his own illegible chicken scratch and weird doodles, which shouldn't be endearing, but it was and Gou wanted to stomp all over it. “And I let you call me Gou. I let _everyone_ call me Gou, and it's all your fault, because it would've been suspicious if I corrected everyone except you, and for some reason it's annoying only if it's anyone _but_ you saying it, and ugh, I hate you!”

Makoto's eyes widened. He shrank a little. “Oh. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, so, um,” Makoto fiddled with the edge of the paper. “So does this mean we're —?”

“Just say it,” Gou snapped, covering her face again in embarrassment. Best to get it over with, at worst she'd spend a few hours nursing her wounds in a cupboard, commiserate with the fellow loveless woman in the kitchen, and then have a sleepover with Chigusa to cheer herself up.

“I —”

“Who's hungry?” her grandmother yelled, bursting into the room with a tray of pastries.

“Grandma!” Gou whined. “We were in the middle of a conversation! I thought you were going to leave us young people alone while you busied yourself being old and sad and lonesome.”

“Ooh, look at this rude girl, Makoto! I just wanted to make sure you and your loverboy didn't forget _other_ basic needs —”

“Grandma!” Gou cried, as Makoto made a distinctly worrying keen of distress, both of them blushing at the implication. “He's not my loverboy anyway,” Gou muttered, not-pouting at the cake. The not-pout did _not_ increase when her grandmother sat back between her and Makoto.

“I'm not?” Makoto blinked, leaning around her grandmother to look at her, and sounding genuinely dismayed. Then he seemed to realise what he said, and made another mortified sound and retreated as Gou turned an even darker shade of red. This was clashing badly with her hair and her face would probably need a few hours to recover from the tingle of all this blood. _Stupid Makoto._

Her grandmother cackled gleefully. “Have some cake, young man, freshly heated up from the freezer!” She hummed, her happiness seeming to increase as she observed the continuing silence between the two teenagers on either side. “Why don't you stay for dinner, Makoto? You'll be better company than this nonsense girl anyway!”

Gou's offense went ignored, as Makoto reverted back to Ideal Son-in-Law, and laughed and accepted courteously. Underneath the protests of the wronged, the wronged was secretly grateful to her grandmother, and winked back when the old woman sent her two thumbs up and meaningful eyebrow waggles while Makoto went to help out in the kitchen. They ended up cutting ingredients next to each other, Makoto slicing greens while she diced the chicken, and there was a lot of unnecessary shoulder rubbing. Gou looked up after the third time, and Makoto beamed brightly at her, light dancing in his eyes. She laughed, and bumped her shoulder back against his.

“I want those vegetables and meat chopped evenly!” her grandmother called, waving a ladle at them menacingly. “Stop fooling around, or you're not eating!” she threatened, to laughter and pretenses of terror.

“So, are we dating or not?” Gou asked, as they pretended to cower, over the bowl of marinade and beating eggs respectively. Makoto bumped shoulders and beamed again, blushing a little. “If you want,” he said, adding quickly when Gou scowled unamusedly, “I mean, you do, so, yes, why not, I mean, I, like you, too, so,” he gave up and nodded vigorously, grinning sheepishly, eyes alight. Gou giggled, and turned back to the marinade happily.

“Nice table, by the way. I like the effort.”

“Oh. Um, thanks.”

Bizarrely enough, her plan had succeeded by not being followed.

*

“HAAAAAAHHHH?????!?!?!?!?!?!? MAKO-CHAN AND GOU-CHAN ARE DATING???!?!?!”

Rei pushed his glasses up, the flare from the lenses momentarily blinding. “In retrospect, Nagisa-kun, this should have been the foregone conclusion. Gou-san has been, as you would say, if you had bothered to look, 'eyeing' Makoto-senpai for a long time, and it's no secret that Makoto-senpai likes her, ever since that time he accidentally threw an empty sandwich box at her when she caught him by surprise. Logically, it was only a matter of time before this happened.”

“Rei-chan, you're talking boringly again,” Nagisa said, sending Rei a disappointed look, while Makoto attempted to crumble into a pile of nothing and Gou snickered affectionately (though she certainly hadn't been laughing when he'd thrown empty plastic trash at her), rubbing shoulders in silent comfort. “Rin-chan, aren't _you_ surprised? Why aren't you angry with Mako-chan?”

“Oh, Makoto told me before he went over to see Gou,” Rin said matter-of-factly, calmly disentangling himself from Nagisa's grip. “Actually, he was the one who asked me if Gou's behaviour was out of the ordinary at all. What I am very annoyed by, though,” he said, scowling darkly, “is that _my_ little sister didn't tell _me_ about any of this at any point before now.”

Gou giggled. “Don't worry, onii-chan, you're still number one in my heart,” she said sweetly, taking his arm. Rin huffed, unmoved, but didn't press further.

“Whatever. Just thank me for getting you your boyfriend. I had to help him work through all this,” he declared dramatically.

“I'll buy you something the next time I go shopping,” Gou pinky promised, deciding not to mention for his sake how he had _her_ to thank for _his_ boyfriend, the loser. Well, she had a part in it anyway. Rin hooked his pinky in hers, still disgruntled but sufficiently placated. Success!

“Did everyone know about this before me?” Nagisa wailed, looking around at everyone in dismay. “Why was I the only one left out?”

“ _I_ didn't know,” Haru spoke up suddenly, eyes dark. Makoto smiled nervously, but wasn't surprised when he received no response. The offended stare though, was starting to be intimidating.

“Ah?! Rin-chan knew, and Mako-chan lives next door, but Haru-chan didn't know?” Nagisa jumped onto Haru and clung to his kindred spirit, lonely souls rejected by an uncaring world.

“Stop being so dumb, Haru,” Rin said, swatting Haru's unoccupied shoulder. “Makoto doesn't have to tell you everything.”

“Dumb? Who was mad that their little sister didn't tell them anything?”

“Shut up! It's not the same thing!”

“How is it not? And that's exactly what you said when you told me my clothes weren't okay but yours were. Why must you always undervalue _my_ problems, Rin? That's rude.” Haru's eyes were glinting a little, and honestly, Gou sometimes found their relationship so off-kilter it was terrifying.

“Undervalue — Haru, you were wearing a shirt with lightbulbs hanging off it. I think that's on a completely different level from my jackets. Why are we still talking about this?”

“Don't insult Angler-kun, you don't understand at all!”

“I'm not going to be seen in public with you if you're going to wear _monstrosities_ like that!”

Haru sniffed. “I should be saying that to you. Your wardrobe offends any sense of color coordination.”

“This coming from you,” Rin scoffed.

“Yes, this coming from me, who did and still does better in any aesthetic area than you. I think I'm more qualified to talk about this.”

“All right, all right...” Makoto said, only successfully getting the attention of three of the five others present. “We should start practice soon. Haru, Rin?”

“We should start practice _now_ ,” Gou corrected, pointedly jerking her chin towards the pool. The message was clear. _Leave the married couple to their bickering._

“Thank you Gou-san,” Rei nodded. “I can't believe we just wasted nearly ten minutes of practice time for this,” he sighed sufferingly, as he pulled his goggles on. “It's not like you're announcing your engagement.”

“Ooh, a wedding? Invite me, invite me! Congrats, Mako-chan, Gou-chan!” Nagisa laughed brightly, jumping in after Rei.

“We're not getting married!” Gou yelled, to no avail, because no one was paying attention anymore.

“I'm so hurt, you wouldn't marry me?” Makoto said, but he was laughing, and Gou stuck her tongue out at him.

“Not if you don't start your laps sometime this century!”

**Author's Note:**

> Finally wrote that MakoKou confession fic, what is a season two, "Nanahachi" is a bad pun of sorts because I'm not funny sorry, grandmama matsuoka's lovers references are Chinese? Idk if they have Japanese counterparts, I'd spent so much time obsessing over Nanahachi and obaa-san (sorry not weeb enough to know these offhand) that by the time I got there I just hecked and winged it. Rin and Haru are a demon couple when it comes to bickering. Wrote this to cheer myself up after a bad week (success!), so I hope it cheers people up too. :)
> 
> EDIT: some minor technical errors fixed, one or two sentences switched around, also wow Makoto is so incoherent, how could Gou find you attractive, smh, young love,


End file.
